John Edwards, the two-time presidential hopeful, is facing allegations from a former mistress that he fabricated three relationships.

Rielle Hunter, the woman with whom Mr Edwards conceived a child in 2008, has written a book and extracts from it were leaked to ABC News last night.

In What Really Happened, Ms Hunter claims that Mr Edwards told her he had affairs with at least two other women dating back 20 years and did not reveal the truth about his former relationships until 2011, two years after Ms Hunter appeared before a grand jury.

Mr Edwards, 59, was accused of seeking more than $900,000 (£575,000) from two wealthy supporters to conceal Ms Hunter and her pregnancy with his child from voters during his unsuccessful bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination four years ago.

At the time, Mr Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, was battling cancer. She died in December 2010. Ms Hunter said Mr Edwards fabricated three additional mistresses – supposedly in Chicago, Los Angeles and Florida – during the early part of their relationship because he did not want Ms Hunter to become too attached to him. Ms Hunter wrote that Mr Edwards confessed to having the other affairs but led her to believe that she was the last. Ms Hunter blames Ms Edwards for driving Mr Edwards to cheat. She describes Ms Edwards in unflattering terms, calling her "crazy", "venomous" and a "witch".

Ms Hunter said she regretted allowing Mr Edwards' political aide, Andrew Young, to publicly claim paternity for the daughter Mr Edwards had fathered. "The thing that I regret the most is going along with this stupid idea and allowing this lie to go public," Ms Hunter wrote, according to ABC News.